Why Having a Problem Solving Mindset Is the Best Quality You Can Have
If you’re like most people, you probably encounter a number of personal and professional problems throughout the day. How you deal with those problems has a huge impact on your overall performance and your mental outlook on life. It’s easy to whine and complain after each new problem appears, focusing only on what went wrong. However, it’s far more effective to embrace a problem solving mindset, in which you consider inventive, creative or proactive ways to get around or solve the problem.
For example, let’s say that you head off to work in the morning. You hop in your car, and drive the same path you always drive to work. But there’s just one problem: the main road that you always take has been closed down for repairs, and you’ll be forced to detour and find a new route. If you’re already running late for work, you can see how the combination of stress and anxiety will compound an already difficult situation. Instead of thinking calmly and rationally about an alternative path to the office, you will tense up and be unable to think of a clever workaround. (And good luck to your co-workers when you finally do arrive at the office!)
And those same types of problems crop up every day in the workplace. Projects are delayed, roadmaps are misaligned and key milestones are missed. Will you be able to come up with a clever workaround to the problem? Will you come up with a million-dollar idea to solve the problem?
If you are part of a workplace environment that emphasizes collaboration, the answer is probably “Yes.” That’s because a collaborative, problem solving mindset means that you are open to answers from others on your team. You listen more than you speak. You are not relying on hierarchical leadership to provide you all the answers. Instead, you have the autonomy to find your own clever solutions. And if those solutions are good enough, others will embrace them as well and view you as a leader.
Over time, this problem solving mindset based on collaboration will develop a sense of trust in professional and personal life. Team members will know that, any time they have a problem that might at first seem insurmountable, they will have a group of individuals — whether it’s a team, a squad or group of friends — that can help them think of a unique, creative solution. Constraints inspire creativity and collaboration elevates team work.
You can immediately see why having a problem solving mindset will make you a trusted leader of any team. People will know that you are focused on solutions, not on problems. And they will respect you as a creative, innovative thinker who is able to find simple solutions to what appear to be very complex problems. Believe that if the problem wasn’t challenging enough, it wouldn’t fall at your desk. It sets the mood up and in 99% of the cases you will end up with a workable strategy with your team. (Try it out!)
There is a famous quote that helps to illustrate very vividly why it’s so important to have a problem solving mindset: “Your mind is like a parachute — it only works when it’s open.” Look at leaders like Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Bill Gates who are able to derive the world behind them to solve big world problem only because of their believe in the solving the problem and continuous collaboration to do so. If you have a problem solving mindset, you will be prepared for all the problems, detours and delays that inevitably appear during the course of a day — and you will be able to parachute to safety every single time.
